


Orange Lillies & Other Signs of Affection

by The_Marron



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Humor, Hux may or may not be a mobster, Kylo is swimming in denial, M/M, Modern AU, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 00:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7198313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Marron/pseuds/The_Marron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a post on tumblr.</p><p>Hux orders very unusual bouquets, and Kylo absolutely hates him but does customized bouquets anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Orange Lillies & Other Signs of Affection

**Author's Note:**

> Not exactly what I usually write, but I liked the prompt. I based my bouquets on the internet sources, they might be wrong at some points.

“How do I passive-aggressively say 'fuck you' in flower?”

That snapped Kylo to attention, a rare occurrence in itself. He stood up from the bunch of flowers he was cutting in the backroom and moved to the door to see, who had ordered that. Nobody asked for negative bouquets, mostly because nobody even bothered to remember that there was something like flower language to begin with, no, people saw roses on Valentine's Day and assumed they meant love... Not that Kylo necessarily cared. Or knew anything about the language of flowers. Not at all.

He looked to the counter where Rey, his cousin, stood as if stupefied. The man in front of her didn't look like a kind of person who would even say something like 'fuck'. He was tall, had red hair and an aura of a British lord- everything about him screamed 'control' and 'power', he looked exactly as the kind of man to scoff with distaste whenever somebody cursed in his vicinity. And yet.

"Ee...Excuse me?" Rey managed weakly, her voice betraying the hope that she had heard the client wrong. She didn't.

"Are you deaf? Or were you daydreaming and just noticed my presence?" The man hissed and behind the cold exterior it was visible that he was barely controlling his rage. Rey could take everything, she could beat a man to a bloody pulp, but tell her she was incompetent, that she was not good enough, and she was powerless. Kylo often wondered what had happened to her before uncle Luke adopted her. Maybe it was just a family trait, feeling like disappointment.

Like a badass hero he was, Kylo was going to save her, he decided. Because he was that awesome.

"Geraniums, for the start," he said and the man's attention snapped to him, as if the passive-aggressive lord had just noticed him. _Were you daydreaming and just noticed my presence?_ , he thought with vengeance, but a customer was a customer. Kylo could keep his cool.

"Why?"...Or not. The man's tone was filed with disbelief and superiority.

"They stand for stupidity. Then you could add meadowsweet, they mean uselessness. Some yellow carnations which symbolize disappointment, foxglove for insincerity and of course, orange lilies for hatred." He replied, trying to keep his tone as haughty as possible. The man frowned.

"It's going to look bloody cheerful, isn't it?" He finally muttered and Kylo resisted the urge to groan.

"Yes, for a total amateur." _Such as you_ , he didn't say. From the man's offended expression, he heard it anyway.

"You mean for someone with other important things to learn? I am humbled, really, how could I not possess this knowledge before." The man drawled and Kylo's temper decided to run free.

"If it is so trivial, why did you even bother to ask about it? If it is so beneath you?"

"Maybe because there are other people _beneath me_ , as you worded it, who actually pay attention to such things and with whom I have to interact whether I like it or not." The man's voice was growing louder and his previously cold eyes now betrayed the fury Kylo sensed in them before. Not that it mattered since the man was going to die. Or at least earn a punch to the face. That entitled asshole, _how dare he, he comes here, to my house..._

"Ben, please..." That was Rey, but Kylo was too angry to pay attention to her pleadings right now.

"Poor you. How can you stand it?" He teased, his hands already on the counter, his face leaning menacingly towards that fucking asshole. But the man refused to budge and met his furious stare with an obvious disdain.

"I can manage. What I can't stand are people who prefer to antagonize others instead of doing their bloody job." The man spat and Kylo raised his fist, but it was caught by Rey.

"Ben, that's quite enough, I think." She hissed. Then, she turned to the red-haired asshole.

"Sir, if you could please refrain from harassing my cousin..." The man seemed to collect himself at that, he took a step back and run a hand through his perfectly slicked hair, as if checking if not a single one has left its rightful place. It hasn't.

"But of course. My apologies..." Here, he looked at Rey's nametag."... Miss Rey. I've had a terrible day and a similar argument with my coworker, the emotions apparently stayed." Here, the man sighed.

That was... unexpected. Even Rey seemed to be taken aback by this sudden change.

"If it is possible, could I continue with my order?" It wasn't exactly meek, it was...polite.

"Of course?" It came as a question, since Rey was looking at Kylo, as if waiting for him to object. He moved back from the counter and shrugged. If the asshole could behave like a civilized person, so could Kylo.

"Alright, how expensive would it be to order such a bouquet here?"

"Forty dollars, sir." And then, the impossible happened. The man gave Rey a sunny smile.

"Perfect! And how long would I have to wait for it?" It was like his whole personality changed. He was... nice. Rey shared a worried look with Kylo but quickly returned her attention to the man in front of her.

"We can do it now if you can wait, sir." The man's smile got even wider.

"Excellent!" Not sure of what was happening, Kylo decided to flee. He didn't want to lose another job just because a customer decided to be not only a dick, but an unpredictable one as well.

"I'll do it, Rey!" He announced and went back to the back room. For a moment he considered messing up the bouquet and giving the man something like 'I'm sorry I was an asshole', but despite a strong temptation, he finally decided against it. The man looked like the kind of person who would check it and _Naboo_ could do without being sued. It was Kylo's grandmother's after all, he had to care for its reputation. And the man was not that important either way, there were slight chances Kylo would see him again. And he did apologize.

_Yes, to Rey._

It was not worth it, Kylo decided and went to collect the flowers needed. He was good at his job, he could raise above his hatred.

*

When he left the backroom he was sure he entered another universe. Rey was sitting on the counter and laughing at something the red-haired asshole had said, the two of them looking pretty chummy. He hadbeen gone for twenty minutes at best! What was going on?

"... You wouldn't believe! And I think the whole office has an album with his pictures. He is impossible." The man finished, his tone light.

"But you don't?" Rey asked, her tone teasing.

"Of course not! I have an image to uphold!" The man sounded scandalized, but eyes were shining with mischief.

It was like Twilight Zone.

"Your order is ready, sir!" He might have said it a little too loudly, but he didn't care. This... Whatever that was, had to end.

Rey jumped off the counter and took her place, was again a full professional.

"That will be forty dollars, sir" She said with a smile and accepted the credit card the man handed to her. She ran the transaction and took the bouquet from Kylo without any thanks. She gave it to the changeable asshole and he gave her a smile and a very gracious 'thank you' as he took both the card and the flowers and finally left the shop.

"What the hell?" Kylo asked the moment the door closed behind the man.

"Oh, he is quite nice! He really had a bad day, he apologized to me again just after you left!"

"Oh, that makes him practically a saint."

"And he has this coworker, Finn, who falls asleep on every surface and everyone..."

"Fascinating." He deadpanned, feeling his anger raising. So that elitist bastard could muster some good manners to interact with Rey, but not with him? What was he, somehow less than Rey? Or was the bastard chatting up his cousin?"

"...And I hope he will visit again, this time in a better mood." Rey chattered away, but Kylo wasn't listening. He had no interest in seeing the man ever again and he was going to forget the encounter soon enough.

Only later, in the evening, he realized that he might've been paying more attention to what Rey was saying than he previously thought, because he remembered that the man was called Hux. Not that it mattered.

*

Unfortunately, the man returned like a bad penny.

"Hux! How nice to see you!" Shouted Rey a month after their last encounter with the hateful lord and Kylo was almost sure he wouldn't have to suffer in the man's presence ever again. He was very determined to make this wish come true. So he stayed in the backroom and listened to Rey's conversation with the man.

"Miss Rey, a pleasure!"

"You can drop the Miss, and you know that! How can I help you?"

"Well... I need a very special bouquet and I immediately thought of _Naboo_ , you helped me so much last time!" The cheerfulness of the bastard was making Kylo burn with rage. _He_   had created the bouquet, not Rey! He was ready to stand up, leave the backroom and give Hux a piece of his mind, when he heard the order.

"I need the 'I'll kill you' flowers."

God Almighty, what was wrong with this man? Kylo left Rey to prepare the bouquet, pretending to be busy with something else.

"He is really nice, Rey, I see it now." He hissed and she swatted her hand at him.

"We don't know what he needs it for. Maybe it is a joke?"

"Oh, yes, he looks like the joking kind." She rolled her eyes at him and left with the flowers she needed and then proceeded to create the bouquet in front of Hux, chatting with him about that coworker of his. Kylo didn't feel excluded, at all. He also wasn't disappointed that Hux hadn't asked about his absence. He still very firmly did not care about Hux's opinions on anything, especially him.

*

For a few weeks, everything seemed alright. No asshole clientele, at least not as distinctive as some Kylo would not name. There were some weddings, a few funerals and a very distressed young man begging for flowers that would scream 'best boss ever', but that was it. A routine. And then, one day, when Rey had a day off and he was left to man the shop alone, he heard it again. The voice of loathing.

"I need a 'I'm happy that you died' bouquet." Kylo raised his head and yes, here he was, Hux the Elitist Asshole in person, looking at him impatiently.

"What." He was not Rey. He wasn't going to be intimidated nor charmed by Hux.

"Oh. What a pity. It is you, I was hoping that I was mistaken. Or that Miss Rey is on the premises."

"I am almost flattered that you remembered me. Did I make an impression?" He teased, trying not to let it get to him how truly disappointed Hux sounded. He didn't care, after all.

"A very powerful one. Not every day I am offended and almost punched while buying flowers, so yes, you might say that." He sounded like he did that first time, all superior and hateful, not at all nice and cheerful as he was with Rey. He was an asshole in sheep clothing trying to get to Rey, it seemed. Not so fast.

"Perfect. So you will probably remember not to antagonize Rey ever again." He growled, leaning back on the chair.

"May you, please, concentrate on your job for a second? I have places to be and I need this bouquet as soon as possible."

"Oh? Is the corpse going to escape?" Hux rolled his eyes and Kylo counted it as his personal victory.

"The funeral is going to start and as the son of 'the corpse' it would be nice to be there on time." That shut Kylo up.

"What was the bouquet again?"

" 'I am happy you died' one. Or 'Rest in Fucking Pieces', I am not very particular. You get the idea." Since he had no idea how to respond to that, Kylo named the price and left to prepare a bouquet. He tried not to wonder about the meaning of the flowers he picked as he put them together.

Poppy for eternal sleep, orange lilies for hatred, sweet pea for goodbye, crocus for cheerfulness... Maybe some yellow carnations...Now he understood what Hux had meant the first time they argued. The bouquet looked too cheerful for its meaning. Especially in the context of a funeral.

He wondered for a while, who Hux might have hated so much. A mother? A father? Why? But it was useless to analyze. It was not his business. He left the backroom and gave the flowers to Hux, who took them absent-mindedly and this time, paid in cash. Before he could leave, Kylo caught his arm, cursing himself as he did that. But the man looked... sad. Despite his hateful message, he really looked sorrowful and it didn't suit him.

"I wasn't sure about this one, so it is your choice to include it, or not." He said and as Hux turned to him, puzzled, he placed one, single white heather.

"What is it for?"

"That's for you to find out. A little knowledge never hurt anybody." He answered with a small smile and watched Hux go, the heather held separately from the bouquet, as if Hux intended to keep it for himself. He should.

Kylo didn't even notice this time the lack of goodbye or a thank you from Hux's part. He was getting used to it.

*

This time Hux returned much sooner. Namely, a week later. Kylo and Rey were both busy creating a huge basket of flowers for some wedding and frankly, the whole shop looked as if a hurricane of flowers went through it, because every combination of the damned plants they tried didn't seem right. Too white, too pink. Nothing fit. They were both frustrated and stressed because the wedding was in the freaking afternoon and they were still not ready, so of course Hux had to enter at this precise moment.

"Is it for a wedding?" He asked in lieu of a 'good morning' and they both glared at him.

"No. It is for the National Gardening Competition, glad you asked." Kylo replied, not taking his eyes off the damned white lily that still didn't want to look great with the rest of the composition, even though it definitely should. Kylo was fully willing to blame Hux's entrance. He heard Hux sigh.

"Because if it is for today's wedding, I was sent to tell you that it won't be needed."

Rey was faster in shouting 'What?!'

"The couple just broke up, so the wedding is... no longer taking place." Only then did Kylo look up from the damned basket. Hux was standing there in a very nice suit. A very, very nice suit. Or maybe it looked well on Hux, it went nice with his red hair. Yes, that was it. Definitely. Or maybe simply formal wear suited him. It had nothing to do with Kylo finding Hux... attractive.

"What happened?" Rey asked, getting up to put the flowers back into the water. "They broke up... Oh, God, tell me it wasn't your wedding!"

Kylo hadn't even thought about it, but the idea shocked him. It would be too much even for a heartless bastard like Hux to be dealt two heavy blows in one week.

"Please. Let's keep it real Rey." He joked, hoping that it really, really wasn't. He ignored twin glares Rey and Hux sent his way.

"No, thank God, no." He didn't know why he felt relieved all of a sudden.

"But I was the best man so I was sent here to stop you from wasting the flowers, if it was possible."

"And what about our money?" Hux turned to him, annoyance evident on his face.

"You will get it. I just thought the poor flowers were of more importance at the moment, Ren."

He stopped for a moment.

"What did you just call me?" Hux took a sudden interest in the basket in front of him.

"You called me Ren... You do know what my name is, you are just asshole enough not to use it!" He accused and it was time for Rey to sigh in defeat.

"You have your name on your nametag!"

"I am just flattered you took the time to read my nametag, it's almost like you were paying attention to me after all."

"Ah, that's what this is about? You felt ignored?!" Before any of them could take another step forward to get the argument to the physical level, Rey stepped between them.

"You are both adults, may I remind you. So can we, please, focus on the fact that somebody broke up on their wedding day? Because it seems like an important issue?" Hux took a deep breath and turned to her.

"Yes, indeed. I wanted to ask you for some kind of a bouquet adequate for the occasion... My friend has been left alone on his wedding day, after all." Rey went back to cleaning up the basket, deep in the thought, possibly planning what kind of a bouquet would be adequate.

"Can you be more precise, what exactly do you want to say?" Kylo asked, trying to make it sound like he was giving an olive branch." Is it going to be 'sorry for your loss?' or, 'I'm with you?', 'You'll find another'?"

" How about 'I'll find you and I'll kill you and make your loved ones watch'?"

Maybe somebody should teach Hux positivity, Kylo thought.

*

It didn't improve with time. Hux visited them frequently, once a week, but his orders never strayed to the 'normal' line. No, his bouquets screamed vengeance and death in their wonderful, fairy tale-like colours, and frankly, Kylo started to wonder whether the man had ever had any positive relations in his life. Of course, there was that one occasion when he asked for an 'I will avenge you' bouquet, which implied that he must have had someone he cared about. Not that he ever got them any nicer flower compositions like 'I love you' or a simple 'I care about you'. No, his affection was measured with hate.

And then came a week when he didn't come.

"Maybe he finally got fed up with your attitude." Rey muttered one day, looking at the door, as if expecting him to enter and utter another inane order.

"My attitude? He picks on me every time he comes here and you blame it on my attitude?"

"He is really nice to me. He is intelligent and has good manners. You are the only one that makes him angry for some reason."

"Natural talent." He deadpanned and went back to his crossword. It wasn't his fault that Hux looked down on him, he had every right to protect himself. And truly, if the man was going to make a move on Rey, he had lost long time ago. She put him firmly in the friendzone, especially after he finally brought that colleague of his, the one who could fall asleep everywhere, to the flower shop. Rey was definitely more interested in Finn, or what was his name, than she had ever been in Hux. Maybe Hux finally realized that and decided he had no reasons to come? He wouldn't waste his time to go to a flower shop where one of the owners broke his heart and the second constantly mocked him, would he? And why would Kylo want him to come back anyway? They had other clients he could talk too, clients prettier and nicer than Hux. And yet...

His thoughts were disturbed by the entrance of a really tall woman. Kylo assumed that if he stood up, she would be probably his height. She had short blond hair and a wore a silver-grey suit, that for some reason reminded Kylo of Hux.

"Good morning." And apparently that's where the similarities ended. Hux didn't believe in good mornings. While Kylo and Rey returned the greeting, the woman looked around the shop, as if searching for some greater things than bunches of flowers.

"How can we help you?" The woman turned to Rey.

"Oh, I need a nice bouquet for my friend. He often buys here and I thought that it means that you are the best in the city..." She sounded hesitant, as if she couldn't imagine why anyone would buy anything in the _Naboo_. Kylo felt insulted.

"Is this the moment you tell us how disappointed you were, or finally make your order?" He bit out, and her attention turned to him.

"Oh. And that would explain everything." She said, a speculative smile gracing her red lips. "I would like to order a big bouquet that would tell something like 'Wake up you asshole, I know your secret.' "

"That's... oddly specific, too specific, I think." Rey answered, and the woman burst out laughing.

"Oh, and 'I am coming for you, you asshole' wasn't?" That set all kinds of alarms ringing.

"How do you know we did that?" He asked, not bothering to hide the suspicion out of his voice.

"I received that one. I was oddly touched. But I heard of others." Kylo decided not insult anyone's intelligence by asking from whom. He had a pretty good idea. "It was very good for him, in my opinion. Hux always had problems with voicing anger, he always thought it was too uncontrolled and impressed no one. Threatening people with flowers, though... That was a classy move. A comic book one maybe, but so effective." Kylo didn't like the woman's tone of admiration. And the fact that she knew of Hux at all. The bouquets were... private. Of course, Kylo assumed that Hux had given them out at some point, but... This woman's knowledge angered him.

"He didn't seem to have any problem with expressing his anger from what I could see." The woman laughed again.

"Curious, isn't it? But, back to the topic, can I get a 'get well soon' one? If you are making the specific ones only for him, I wouldn't want to change it, he would take it personally if I did." Something the woman said now suddenly bothered him.

"Before, you said 'wake up'. Now, 'get well soon'... what happened?" She looked at him oddly, smugness gone from her face.

"Of course, you haven't heard. He was in an accident."

*

Kylo didn't know what possessed him to come to the hospital bearing a whole bunch of flowers. He gave Phasma, for that was her name, the flowers she ordered and that should be the end of it. He had no business visiting Hux. He was neither a friend, nor family. He didn't even like the man, the two of them couldn't stand in one room too long or it would lead to an argument. So what that he looked... well, so what that his smile, rare as it was, was nice and that he was actually intelligent... It all meant that he was not a person Kylo could associate himself with.

And yet here he was, asking the nurse where should he look for Hux. He didn't even know his first name. Still, he pressed on, the flowers ready in his hands and was surprised to see that Hux was, in fact, awake.

"Kylo?" He sounded unsure, as if seeing Kylo here was something he hadn't anticipated. Then, it struck him that he had used Kylo's name. Not addressed him 'Ren' as he did before.

"Hux. Look where all this hatred had led you." He said, entering the room and sitting on a chair next to Hux's bed. The bouquet he made for Phasma was still standing, though some of the flowers started to wilt.

"Mock me all you like, at least I survived." He sounded tired, and when Kylo looked at him, he could see the paleness and bruises, the vacant stare. He wanted to ask what happened, but maybe Hux didn't want to remember it just now. Maybe he couldn't.

"That you did." He replied, a strange gentleness creeping into his voice. They looked at each other in silence, for the first time both lacking words.

"I hoped you would come."

"Why?" Here, Hux smiled, a little, tired smile. His hair got slightly longer, Kylo noticed, and it was no longer slicked back. It suited him.

"I actually like you. You irritate me as hell, but I like you." Before Kylo could react, Hux's eyes closed and exhaustion took him. It didn't stop the fluttering in Kylo's chest, nor did it stop the smile that spread on his face. He put the flowers on the bed, next to Hux and got up to leave. Hux should know by now what the flowers meant. And even if he didn't... Kylo was free on Sundays to discuss it with him, over a coffee, for example. He left the hospital with a smile on his face.

*

When Hux wakes up, Kylo is no longer in sight. The only indication that he was not a hallucination is the bouquet laying next to him, definitely not left here by Phasma. The bouquet is not signed, but Hux knows well enough who left it. Nobody else would say to him  'I care about you, you asshole' in flower.


End file.
